It is assumed that all people share a common interest in health and illness, but that individuals from different ethnic backgrounds perceive these in terms of their own cultural complex of cognitions. Where cultural beliefs are compared with those of the modern scientific system of Western medicine, similarities and differences may be found in terms of cognitive differentiation in definition and recognition of illness, diagnosis and classification of symptoms, treatment modalities on the basis of beliefs about probable etiology, and choice from among alternative care and cure systems. Cross cultural comparison of decision-making processes in migrant family choices of health care systems are expected to reveal factors influencing choices, critical points at which choices are made, and alternatives of action based on the outcome of choices. This study proposes to discover on what basis people select from among alternative health care systems, and how scientific medicine and ethnomedical beliefs and practices can be accommodated. The proposed research has two broad objectives: (1) To compare and contrast perceptual and cognitive aspects of health seeking involved in choices by seasonal agricultural families from among alternative health care systems; (2) To identify probable points for intervention by health professionals toward improving the quality of health of these families. The investigation proposes field research using an anthropological method (ethnoscience) of data gathering and analysis. This method obtains information primarily from the viewpoint of the informats rather than from that of health professionals or the researchers. The setting is a four county region of North Central Washington State, and the target population is multiethnic families of seasonal agricultural workers.